Alistair has an alibi,” Janet told the others when they met in the doorway between the bookshop and tearoom.
“That sounds like the beginning of an alphabet book by Edward Gorey,” Christine said. “Except Gorey was funny and Alistair’s alibi is annoying.”
“And not just alibi, but alibis,” Janet said. “He was at an AA meeting in Fort William, with plenty of witnesses, the night Sam was killed. The day of the signing, immediately after he left here, he drove to Glasgow for a two-day seminar at the university, with time-stamped receipts and more witnesses to prove it. Norman says he was gracious about being suspected, and he thanked them for believing Gillian that Tom didn’t kill Daphne or himself. I guess, considering the ceilidh and that he did show up for the signing, he didn’t feel threatened by her.”
“I didn’t know he goes to AA,” Christine said.
“He told Norman that’s why he goes to Fort William.”
“Does this leave us looking like nosy eavesdropping snoops?” Summer asked.
“No,” Janet said. “It doesn’t and it won’t. Even the thought makes me want to stamp my foot. In fact—” She raised her foot and looked at the others. They each raised a foot and they brought them down together. “So there.”
“So there, but what now?” Tallie asked.
“Now for something harder, but it might have been in the backs of our minds all along. We wondered why Tom went back to Nev’s the night Sam died, and we wondered if Gillian went back with him. If she did, some of the pieces we’ve been wondering about might fall into place.”
“But Danny didn’t see her,” Christine said.
“I know. There are other buts, too. But every clue that pointed to Alistair also points to Gillian. Let’s take today and try to identify the buts. Think about the ifs, too, though. See what we come up with. I’ll start a new document.”
“Call it ‘Let’s Hope Not,’” Tallie said.
“Narrative or list?” Summer asked.
“Any way you want. Use your initial when you add something.”
“I’ll let Mum and Dad know they’re on their own again for tea,” Christine said.
As Tallie unlocked the bookstore’s front door, she glanced at her mother. “Do we know what we’re doing?”
“We aren’t hurting anyone,” Janet said. “At the moment.”
“I thought you were going to say, ‘as far as we know.’”
“That, too, but ask me again later.”
“Do you want me to take care of orders this morning?”
“Sure.”
Janet had brought her laptop from home. She put it on the counter, then cleared a space on a shelf below where she could slip it out of view when her attention needed to be on business. She opened the computer, turned it on, and created “Let’s Hope Not.” Tallie watched her from the office door before going in to run the reports she needed.
Rab and Ranger arrived before any customers. Ranger nodded at Janet and headed for his chair. When Rab had him settled, Janet asked after Rachel Carson.
“She’s a bossy wee bisom,” Rab said.
“Oh, dear. I’m sorry.”
“No need. I ken someone who might take her. Do her some good.”
“Do Rachel Carson some good, or the person?”
Rab considered. “Could be both.” He nodded at the laptop and then the cash register. “I can watch this, if you’ve work.”
“Sure, for a while.” Janet nodded toward Ranger. “He and I will be over there, if you need us.” She took the laptop and sat in the chair next to Ranger’s. She began the new document with the buts, hoping she’d find enough objections to Gillian’s guilt to close the laptop and feel foolish, without ever getting to ifs. Ranger sat up when she started typing, as though taking an interest.
“I’m looking for answers for what happened to your housepest’s friend,” she told him quietly. “Wish me luck.”
The ifs began popping in almost immediately and brought a slew of whys, dids, what ifs, and could haves with them. She deleted her work, gave it some more thought, and then saw that Christine had lobbed in three questions. Janet answered them with two of her own.
C: Why did Tom go back to Nev’s?
J: Maybe he went back because Gillian did and she needed him there? Danny didn’t see her, but she could’ve been in the passage or the alley.
C: Why did he get involved in the fight?
C: Why did he stand at the entrance to the passageway?
J: Answer to both—was Tom running interference for her while she poisoned Sam?
Janet felt sick. She grimaced at Ranger. He lifted his lip. She didn’t know if he was commiserating or trying to make her laugh. She gave him a slow, double-eye cat wink in return, and he turned his back on her. When she looked back at the screen, Christine had added another question. She answered. Then Tallie made a statement in Gillian’s defense. Janet was glad for her daughter’s loyalty, but felt compelled to add her buts.
C: Why would Gillian kill these people?
J: Daphne—to protect Alistair’s name? Or for revenge, because her image of Alistair was destroyed?
J: Tom—because he had a fling with Daphne? Or so he’d take the blame for Daphne’s death? Is she that heartless? Alistair is into restoration; what if Gillian tried to restore her life to the way it was before Daphne came back? Except, how does that work with killing Tom?
T: Gillian is an advocate for strong girls and women. She’s been teaching for 20 years and brings more enthusiasm and energy to a classroom than most brand-new teachers I’ve met. I burned out in 15 years teaching adult law students. She spends her days with teenagers.
J: She’s a wonderful teacher, but she’s human. What if Daphne rubbed her nose in the fling with Tom and told her she’d told Tom about Alistair? Scenario—Gillian went to see Tom after the signing. She’d already left poisoned scones and tea with Daphne. Tom confirmed everything. She gave him poisoned scones and tea, too.
T: And followed him with the Ardbeg?
C: Or went with him and left it. Tourist bus. Cheery-bye.
The door jingled and Janet was glad for the onslaught of tourists. Even if they only shuffled through the postcards, she was happy to stow the laptop and its suspicions under the counter for a while. Tallie came out of the office and Rab went to see if they needed help in the tearoom.
“All right?” Janet asked Tallie.
“Playing devil’s advocate and getting surprisingly shaky. But, yeah, all right.”
“We can stop,” Janet said.
“I don’t think SCONES quit.”
For the rest of the morning, they didn’t. As they found time, they added to the document, and when Janet looked it over, just before noon, she saw they’d created a sequence of short conversations.
T: Her grief over Daphne seems real.
S: Maybe her grief isn’t for the Daphne who came back. Maybe it’s for the Daphne who used to be.
S: Gillian walked home with Daphne after the signing. Opportunity.
C: Maybe the break-ins were Gillian being clever. She knows kids and how they think. She created a different story to throw off the police.
J: Daphne had a notebook. Do the police have it?
T: She’s good at organizing, good at details.
C: A killer needs those skills. Maybe she arranged the visiting author program to get Daphne over here.
J: Starting with Daphne’s list of demands and the miscommunication over our meeting at the school, and then not knowing she was bringing the dog—did Daphne and the stress of her visit put Gillian in a dither? Or was she laying groundwork? Smoke and mirrors? I heard that phrase somewhere recently. Tom used it, talking about the new school building.
T: Arranging the author visit so she could kill Daphne? Way too elaborate.
T: The change in Gillian, after Daphne must have told her about Alistair, was believable.
S: Sam doesn’t fit any of the story lines. Unless he was practice, an experiment to perfect the poison recipe?
J: But why him?
S: What if he was in town and saw that Daphne was coming? He had one of her books in his backpack. Maybe he contacted the school for details. Gillian talked to him? Arranged to meet him?
C: Who misses him?
C: Why did Gillian call Janet when Tom went missing? Doesn’t she have closer friends? Did she call for Janet’s help? Or more smoke and mirrors?
C: Who did Ian see at Daphne’s? Where did he hear about the Deoch-an-doris Society? Is the ‘lost case of whisky’ real? Who is this source he claims to have? His own imagination?
C: Is the society a clue or synchronicity? Is synchronicity another name for red herring?
S: This was done by a good liar. The best lies are almost true and not too complicated. Too complicated = too hard to keep straight.
S: This was done by someone good at thinking in terms of stories.
C: Word association—stories, clever, conniver, manipulation, orchestration
J: Daphne said the story you tell depends on which one you believe or which one you like better.
T: Gillian teaches literature.
J: Did Gillian and Alistair plan this together?
Shortly after noon, Rab and Ranger folded Ranger’s second-best towel. As they left, Rab held the door for Alistair. He smiled and nodded, and didn’t act in any way as though he knew they’d called the police on him. But he’d rarely set foot in the shop, and Janet worried there might be hidden meaning when he bought a copy of Daphne’s The Deciduous Detective. Alistair didn’t stay long, and when he left through the tearoom, Tallie wiped an imaginary bead of sweat from her brow.
Janet wasn’t surprised to get a text from Christine a few seconds later that said, “Heart attack.” A few minutes after that, Christine sent another text: “Coast is clear and Martin’s here.”
Martin came through from the tearoom during a lull, habitual scone in hand, and wandered over to the window display. “She was brilliant.”
“She was complicated, but she’ll be missed,” Janet said.
“Complicated, yes. That’s exactly how I plan to couch a more in-depth piece on her life. I really want to get into the psychology of being an environmentalist of her caliber.”
Janet had forgotten how excited Martin got when he talked about his writing. Tallie hadn’t; she’d been on her way back to the counter and did an abrupt about-face. “Will the article be for James?” Janet asked.
“No, it’s not his style,” Martin said. “The Guardian is brilliant, of course, but safe and cozy. James would want Daphne’s recipe for cherry pie where I’d want to ask if the use of cherry laurel was mere happenstance or meticulously planned.”
Martin only paused briefly when Janet started coughing into her elbow. She didn’t hear the rest of what he said because she was too busy pretending she had a tickle in her throat and wondering how well that disguised her shock. To her relief, the door jingled for a couple coming in. Martin popped the rest of his scone in his mouth, waved, and was gone. When Tallie came back to the counter, Janet was sitting on the stool.
“There’s one more cloud note from Summer,” Tallie said. “Have you seen it?”
Janet shook her head and Tallie passed her phone to her.
S: No dice on Martin’s recording. He said the interview got personal—wink, wink, nudge, nudge—and he doesn’t have time to edit.
“I need to call Norman,” Janet said. She took out her own phone, handed Tallie’s back to her, went into the office, and closed the door. While she waited for Hobbs to answer, she wondered which way Martin’s interview with Daphne had ended. Cut off by a huffy Daphne, as his notes indicated? Or with the wink and a nudge he’d just told Summer?
“Norman, hello, Janet Marsh. A quick question. Has the cause of death been released? You’re sure? Will you please find out if anyone at the paper has been told about the cherry laurel? Thank you.”
She disconnected and waited not more than five minutes before Hobbs called back.
“I spoke to Reddick. The answer is no. So, tell me Mrs. Marsh, who knows about cherry laurel who shouldn’t?”
“Martin Gunn.”